The increase in the number of trades is mainly attributable to the equities incl. funds + ETSFs + ETPs segment, which recorded 2,686,139 trades in March 5.2% more than in February. Turnover in this segment was 0.7% higher than in February at CHF 59.3 billion. In the ETFs segment, the number of trades rose by 8.1% to 77,856, but turnover fell by 9.7% to CHF 6.9 billion.

Turnover in the structured products and warrants segment was up 6.8% at CHF 3.2 billion. Despite a 4.8% fall to 87,503, this segment’s number of trades remains the second highest on SIX Swiss Exchange. The bonds CHF segment posted declines in both turnover (-18.9%) and the number of trades (-6.4%) in March. This goes against the trend observed since the start of the year – in the first three months of 2012, turnover was up 20.6% year-on-year at CHF 52.5 billion, with the number of trades 9.7% higher at 146,956.

Overall, 4,142 new structured products and warrants were admitted to trading in March 2012, 9.2% more than in February, whereas the number of new bonds CHF admitted was 5.7% higher than in February at 37. In addition, a new company – DKSH – was listed on SIX Swiss Exchange for the first time.

The leading equity indices also trended higher in March 2012. The SMI® blue-chip index stood at 6,235.5 points at the end of March (up 2.1% month-on-month and 5.0% for the year to date). The SLI Swiss Leader Index®, meanwhile, reached 954.2 points (up 2.0% month-on-month and 8.9% for the year to date), the broader SPI® 5,715.8 points (up 2.4% month-on-month and 7.0% for the year to date). The SBI® AAA-BBB Total Return stood at 121.7 points, representing a fall of 0.1% over the previous month and an increase of 1.2% since the start of the year.